Liberty University
5-11, 4-1BSC
Longwood
3-13, 0-5BSC
Liberty Bounces Back With Season-High 92 Points in Win
1/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Liberty bounced back from its first Big South Conference loss of the season in a big way, Tuesday evening at the Vines Center. The Lady Flames posted a season-high scoring outburst in a 92-47 victory over Longwood, achieving Head Coach Carey Green's 200th career win at the Vines Center.
Green, who is now 200-35 all-time at home, saw all 14 of his players score points, paced by junior Sheana Vega's career-high 14 markers and four three-pointers. The Lady Flames, who never trailed, shot a season-high 52.2 percent (35-of-67) from the field, including 11 triples. They also racked up a season-best 53 bench points on the night.
Liberty, now 5-11 overall and 4-1 in Big South play, remains in a second-place tie with Campbell, one game behind conference-leading Radford. The Lady Flames have now won four straight home games, nine consecutive home meetings with Longwood and 16 straight matchups with the Lancers overall.
KK Barbour scored in double figures for the third straight game with 12 points, while three-time reigning Big South Freshman of the Week Keyen Green's posted her eighth consecutive double-digit scoring effort (11 points). Nene Johnson made it four Lady Flames in double figures with 10 points off the bench.
Longwood, which dressed only nine players due to injury, falls to 3-13 overall and 0-5 in Big South play. The Lancers got a game-high 16 points from Eboni Gilliam, but were hurt by 18.2 percent (4-of-22) three-point shooting. Longwood also committed 21 turnovers, leading to 27 Liberty points.
Liberty went on an early 12-2 run, opening up a 16-5 advantage on Kierra Johnson-Graham's putback with 3:57 remaining in the first quarter. Longwood scored five straight points during the next 43 seconds to cut its deficit to 16-10 on a Khaila Hall layup at 3:14.
However, that turned out to be the Lancers' final made field goal of the period. Back-to-back jumpers by Johnson initiated an 8-1 Liberty spurt to end the quarter, giving the home team a 24-11 advantage through 10 minutes of play. The Lady Flames scored 10 points off of Longwood's eight first-quarter turnovers and tallied a dozen bench points.
Liberty broke the game wide open with a 13-0 second-quarter surge. Barbour contributed six points, including a three-point play at the 3:49 mark for a 43-16 Lady Flames' advantage.
Kaila Ballard became the 10th different Lady Flame to score in the first half, hitting a three-pointer with three seconds remaining to give Liberty a 50-21 halftime lead. The Lady Flames' highest-scoring half of the season was aided by 22 bench points. Johnson-Graham led all players in both points (9) and rebounds (5) during the first 20 minutes.
Liberty shot 52.9 percent (9-of-17) during a 21-point third quarter, extending its lead to 39 points (71-32) by the end of the period.
Paced by Gilliam's eight points, Longwood scored 15 points in the fourth quarter. However, they could not cut into Liberty's lead as the Lady Flames shot 5-of-7 from three-point range during the final 10 minutes. That led to Liberty's highest-scoring game since Jan. 2, 2014 (92-69 win at Charleston Southern) and the Lady Flames' largest margin of victory since Jan. 10, 2013 (92-33 win at Charleston Southern).
Liberty had seven players hit at least one three-pointer in the contest. The Lady Flames equaled the most triples they have ever hit in a game at the Vines Center with 11.
Liberty also made use of its size advantage as evidenced by the Lady Flames' rebound (46-28), points in the paint (42-20) and second-chance points (22-5) advantages. Johnson-Graham led all rebounders with seven boards in a team-high 21 minutes played, while Barbour grabbed six.
In addition, the Lady Flames dished out season-high 20 assists, led by Iva Ilic's five helpers.
Vega became the fifth different Lady Flame to lead the team in scoring during the team's first five Big South contests.
Liberty has still only lost back-to-back Big South games twice during Green's 18 seasons at the helm.
Up Next
Liberty will take to the road for its next two games, beginning with a Saturday matinee at UNC Asheville (8-8, 2-3 Big South). Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. at Kimmel Arena for a rematch of the 2016 Big South Women's Basketball Championship title game.
.png&width=84&height=84&quality=100&type=webp)
